Practice Makes ‘Museum People’

This article examines how museum work is evaluated, and how it affects museum professionals’ identities. The empirical material consists of biographical interviews of Finnish museum professionals. The key concept for the analysis is ‘museum people’, which represents the ideal museum workers. As a co...

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Main Author: Inkeri Hakamies
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Leicester 2017-07-01
Series:Museum & Society
Online Access:https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/view/829
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author Inkeri Hakamies
author_facet Inkeri Hakamies
author_sort Inkeri Hakamies
collection DOAJ
description This article examines how museum work is evaluated, and how it affects museum professionals’ identities. The empirical material consists of biographical interviews of Finnish museum professionals. The key concept for the analysis is ‘museum people’, which represents the ideal museum workers. As a community of practice ‘museum people’ are defined by what they do – ‘proper’ museum work. Analyzing the defining practices and elements of the community also reveals that it is placed in a time and space of its own. Reflecting oneself to ‘museum people’ and their practices can be elemental for the identity work of a museum professional. Keywords: Museum work, practices, community of practice, professional identity
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spelling doaj.art-d6578906ad94454e96bc9abcc9535dde2022-12-22T02:56:39ZengUniversity of LeicesterMuseum & Society1479-83602017-07-0115214215210.29311/mas.v15i2.829777Practice Makes ‘Museum People’Inkeri Hakamies0University of HelsinkiThis article examines how museum work is evaluated, and how it affects museum professionals’ identities. The empirical material consists of biographical interviews of Finnish museum professionals. The key concept for the analysis is ‘museum people’, which represents the ideal museum workers. As a community of practice ‘museum people’ are defined by what they do – ‘proper’ museum work. Analyzing the defining practices and elements of the community also reveals that it is placed in a time and space of its own. Reflecting oneself to ‘museum people’ and their practices can be elemental for the identity work of a museum professional. Keywords: Museum work, practices, community of practice, professional identityhttps://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/view/829
spellingShingle Inkeri Hakamies
Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
Museum & Society
title Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
title_full Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
title_fullStr Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
title_full_unstemmed Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
title_short Practice Makes ‘Museum People’
title_sort practice makes museum people
url https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/mas/article/view/829
work_keys_str_mv AT inkerihakamies practicemakesmuseumpeople